"Bridging the Gap" through needs-based funding and equitable policy

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 129 No 8, 1 November 2024, page no. 9

“Bridging the Gap”, a new report released by The McKell Institute, challenges previous reports and narratives of an education system in decline. 

The report takes readers inside the school gate to show the significant and complex work of teachers and school leaders, something that many other reports have been incapable of showing or have chosen to ignore. It shifts the narrative from blaming schools and teachers towards recognition of the invisible labour of teachers and school leaders, which is performed against a backdrop of generational teacher shortage crisis and spiralling workload. Rather, the state of our school education system is a problem for governments and school systems to urgently address.

Education policy can either worsen or offset social disadvantages. It can bridge or widen gaps, and it can drive or impede social mobility. For the past decade, governments have reacted to media headlines about failing schools and kids lacking the basics with a suite of reviews, reports and policy initiatives, like the Review of the Australian Curriculum (2014), Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers (2015), the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan (2022), and two iterations of National School Reform Agreement. 

The research shows us that Australia’s education crisis has manifested because Australian governments continue to spend less on public education than other developed countries, and that within our uniquely segregated school system, needs-based funding is urgent. The research also remains clear about the human cost of policy failures. Decades of underfunding have generated a vast number of excluded students—a morally indefensible situation in a country as wealthy as Australia. 

The National School Reform Agreement (2018-2024) failed to deliver 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard (SRS) to any state school in Queensland, which is the funding allocation required to address factors of disadvantage. Nor did the agreement develop a reporting mechanism that accounted for local school nuances and complexities. 

In the new Better and Fairer Schools Agreement (2025-2034), governments and school systems must demonstrate higher levels of trust of employees working inside the school gate by consulting with them as well as their school communities. 

Education is in crisis, but this is reparable. “Bridging the Gap” shows that, through needs-based funding, Queensland’s access to education can become more equitable and its outcomes can rise to meet community expectations and world standards. Queensland now has an opportunity to reverse educational decline in ways that are affordable, politically achievable and popularly supported.

“Bridging the Gap” draws from publicly available data, published on school websites and government reports, The report includes a discussion on current educational policy contexts and case studies from some of the many Queensland schools and teachers who are making a tangible difference for their students and their families. Definitive, evidence-based pathways are set out, along with policy strategies that are within practical reach.

“Bridging the Gap” makes four policy recommendations to government. 

• Increase the Commonwealth share of SRS payments to at least 25 per cent.
• Embed school autonomy and local consultation in expenditure of SRS payments. 
• Develop a reporting mechanism that is both qualitative and recognises school difference; and which mitigates workload of school leaders. 
• Invest in professional collaborative time. 

The McKell Institute report has been prepared with the assistance of the Queensland Teachers’ Union, and a copy is available on the QTU website.

Professor Jo Lampert

Dr Katherine Wilson

Craig Wood, QTU Research Officer

 

Jo Lampert is Professor of Teacher Education for Social Transformation in the Faculty of Education, Monash University. Jo has worked in teacher education for the past 25 years to research how teachers can be prepared to address educational inequalities in the hardest-to-staff schools in metropolitan, regional, rural and remote Australia. She co-leads Monash's Education for the Future Impact Lab, and leads its Teacher Education for Social Impact Research and Scholarship group. 

Katherine Wilson holds a PhD in Cultural Studies and is the author and co-author of two books in this field. Her consultancy for social justice bodies has included research for Foundation for Young Australians (formerly Education Foundation). She is an award-winning journalist, contributing to The Monthly, Guardian Australia and the Australian Education Union member magazine, as well as mainstream newspapers.